Charming witches and supernatural forces: what to watch and visit this week

Practical Magic is still bewitching

Every generation of women has its witch. For my grandmother, it was the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, with her striped stockings and flying monkeys. For my mother, a child of the sixties, it was the villainous Witchiepoo from H.R. Pufnstuf, who zoomed around on a rocket-powered broom.

My own witches were far less frightening. The Owens sisters of Practical Magic (played by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman) weren’t green and warty, nor cackling and cruel. They were stylish and free-spirited. The film follows the sister witches as they navigate a deadly family curse that dooms any man they fall in love with. I must have rewatched it every year since it was released in 1998.

Practical Magic 2 picks up 25 years later. Sally Owens (Bullock) has attempted to hide her family’s witchcraft from her now-grown daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams). But when the ancestral love curse strikes again, she flees to England in search of a cure.

The sequel doubles down on the core appeal of the original film. As our reviewer puts it: “It is a story about witches, but really it’s about the power of the feminine: readdressing ancient wrongs, recognising the nurturers who came before, believing in ourselves. Men come and go, relationships die, but the women in your life are forever.”

Answer the poll below to let us know who your favourite film witch is, or reply to this email if we missed yours off the list. Last week we asked you whether you can finish a book featuring an infuriating or annoying character. Over half (51%) of you said yes, but for 10% of you it’ll land a book straight on the DNF (did not finish) pile.

Practical Magic 2 is in cinemas now

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Practical Magic 2 will bewitch fans despite its flimsy premise

Supernatural forces

If Practical Magic 2 has whetted your appetite for the occult, you might also enjoy Magick by Thomas Waters, a new book that decodes the visual culture of spells, illusions and psychic powers.

One of the book’s subjects is the spells people have used to protect their homes throughout history. From hag stones gathered on beaches to rowan trees planted in gardens to ward off the “evil eye”, these practices reflect an age-old desire to make our spaces feel safe, as Waters explains.

Magick by Thomas Waters is available now.

Read more:
Six ways people have used magic to protect their homes throughout history – from witch bottles to ‘hag stones’

Supernatural forces take on a more fearsome shape in new Australian horror flick, Leviticus. The film centres on the burgeoning romance between teens Naim and Ryan. The pair are forced to attend a fire-and-brimstone sexual conversion therapy session with a fundamentalist “healer” on a mission to convert the town’s gay and lesbian teens.

After sessions with this mysterious figure end in Exorcist-style convulsions, participants are pursued by an evil entity that looks identical to the person they desire most. Ryan and Naim are caught between their desire for one another and the fact that the person they become intimate with might kill them.

Our reviewer, horror expert Matt Jacobsen, called it a “beautifully made, eerie and emotionally sophisticated horror film”.

Leviticus is in cinemas now

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Leviticus: deadly desire stalks queer teens in this rural Australian horror

Artful casting

Electra/Persona, a new play at the National Theatre, is something of a chimera – a version of Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy Electra and a stage adaptation of the 1966 Ingmar Bergman film, Persona combined. The play stars Cate Blanchet and Nina Hoss, taking turns at the roles of either Electra/Elisabeth or Clytemnestra/Alma at the toss of a coin.

Expert in Greek theatre Will Shüler described it as an “evocative and artful play, driven by two powerhouse performers” – a “surreal triumph”.

Electra/Persona is on at The National Theatre in London until October 10

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Cate Blanchett’s Electra/Persona at the National Theatre is a surreal triumph

Fans of the French comedy-drama series Call My Agent! will no doubt be thrilled by the release of a feature film this week.

The Netflix show observes the workings of a Parisian casting agency in which agents match “the talent” with film projects, while coping with actorly egos, affairs, meltdowns and tantrums. The series’ key concept was to mix the fictional agency staff with real-life celebrities making fun of themselves.

Though the film struggles to capture the same star-power that made the series such a success, the familiar banter among the team of reunited former agents means there’s still plenty to enjoy.

Call My Agent! is on Netflix now

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Call My Agent! The Movie: why this much-loved French TV series fails as a film

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